Tales From The Training Room
by Lyri146
Summary: Another Chance Part 4. A collection of the team's favourite moments from the training room. A little bit of fun and character exploration between two instalments in the series.
1. Tony

**Tony**

Tony's not a huge fan of the training room. Oh sure he understands the importance of keeping up with training, he _is_ a genius after all, and he'll admit he actually quite enjoys his sparring sessions with Natasha and Sam. After all the three of them aren't super soldiers, nor do they have enhanced strength, and they still get involved in fights up close and personal; there's plenty of jokes that go around the team that Tony's suit does most of the work, but he still has to punch in it and fight just like the others on occasion. So Natasha and Sam are perfect partners when he _does_ decide to do some proper training other than working out in the gym. No matter what Steve might try and insinuate, Tony _does_ still go and do his workout.

So although the training room isn't Tony's favourite part of the facility, it's not his least favourite either. That's definitely the medical wing.

There is one thing about the training room that Tony does love though: the opportunity to stare at a sweaty Steve Rogers.

'You going to just stand there all afternoon or you actually going to do something?' Natasha asks him during one such day that Tony has come down to the gym to get some training in. Only Steve and Bucky are already sparring and Tony may have got a bit distracted.

'Actually I'm alright for now. Maybe you should join me.'

'Join you in leaning against the wall?' Natasha asks with a raised eyebrow.

'My dear Agent Romanoff, I thought you were one of the best spies in the world. Please tell me you actually know _why_ I'm leaning against this particular bit of wall,' he teases her.

Natasha smirks. 'Wouldn't have anything to do with the view it offers of those two idiots would it?' She japs a thumb over her shoulder at the two soldiers, who are both too busy sparring to pay much attention to their conversation.

'I don't know what you mean to imply,' he grins back. Natasha just laughs and leans against the wall next to him, drinking from her water bottle as she takes a break from her own training.

'There's more to it than just staring at Steve's ass though isn't there?'

Tony sighs. 'Must you ruin _all_ my fun?'

'Not _all_ of it. Just calling you out when you don't tell the _whole _story.'

He laughs. 'Alright, no it's not. I like watching you guys train so I can see what changes I can make to your gear that will mean they're more comfortable and of more use.'

'Knew it! Sam owes me twenty bucks.' At his questioning eyebrow she laughs and explains. 'Sam said you just watched Steve's ass and never looked away, I said there was something else to it but he didn't believe me so we made a bet.'

'What does he think I'm doing when I watch him and Rhodey box? I seriously hope he doesn't think I'm staring at _his_ ass.'

Natasha bursts out laughing, finally catching the attention of the two soldiers on the mat.

'What are you two up to?' Steve asks, eyeing Natasha trying to get her laughter under control and Tony's innocent expression. The Captain raises an eyebrow at him. 'What are you doing now, Tony?'

'Why do you assume it's me doing something?'

'You're trying to look innocent-'

'-and you only try to look innocent when you're up to something,' Bucky cuts across Steve's response.

'I'm offended you don't think I'm just looking innocent because I _am_.'

'There are a lot of words we could use to describe you, Tony,' Natasha says, finally getting her sniggering under control, 'but _innocent_ is not one of them. I mean you _did_ manage to corrupt Captain America.'

'Oh my dear, Widow, if you think Cap was innocent before he met me-'

'Tony! Don't you dare,' Steve cuts across him, causing both Tony and Bucky to burst out laughing. 'I don't need you putting ideas into everyone's heads thank you very much.'

'What do you mean ideas?' Tony smirks, seeing the blush starting to creep up Steve's neck. 'I was only going to tell Nat the truth.'

'Tony,' Steve says warningly.

'Fine,' he mock-huffs, holding his hands up in surrender. 'You do realise she'll get to the bottom of it eventually though right?'

'Wonderful,' he hears the blond mutter, but his attention is taken away from the pair at the wall as Bucky aims a punch his way and the two start sparring again.

'You know I always meant to ask you,' Natasha says quietly after a couple of moments, 'but I'll understand if you don't want to talk about it.'

'Now you've got _me _intrigued,' he responds.

'I figured that Bucky had developed feelings for you before we got back,' she says, 'back when you were still trying to break his brain washing,' at his raised eyebrow she shrugs, 'I could see it on his face when he spoke about you. When we got back I realised you weren't entirely adverse to the idea, but-'

'Did you know how I felt about Steve?' he asks quietly.

'When you two first met on the Helicarrier I could see the sparks flying, I just didn't know if either of you would ever act on it,' she replies, then continues with what she had been saying before. 'You and Steve always had _something_, Tony. But I always wondered: did you and Bucky ever explore anything?'

Tony is quiet before he replies, eyes never leaving the two soldiers training in front of them. 'We kissed in the lab before you all came back. I'll admit, Nat, I was tempted to start something with him then, but it wouldn't have been fair on him. I felt like I was cheating on Steve, even though nothing was happening between us and I didn't know if anything ever would. I had to move on from Steve before I could see if anything could happen with Bucky. So no, nothing really happened.' Out of the corner of his eye he sees the woman start to say something a couple of times and then decide against it. 'Come on, Widow, I know there's something else you want to ask.'

'If you hadn't felt what you did for Steve, would you have gone for it with Bucky?'

'Yes,' he replies, without any hesitation.

'Tony…why didn't you try something with _both_ of them? I mean I get you haven't really done polyamory outside of the bedroom, but why didn't you think about giving it a go?'

Tony sighs and turns to face her. 'Because it wouldn't have been fair on Bucky. Steve would always have come first, even if I tried not to, and I know Bucky would have accepted that and he shouldn't _have _to; he deserves someone who is going to want _him_ and only him, not playing second fiddle to someone else. I guess, looking back, Steve's _always_ come first for me, even before I realised it.' Natasha nods and gives him a soft smile before turning back to watch the two soldiers. 'I did wonder if you two would get together you know,' he says.

Natasha smiles. 'He has a way of making people feel good about themselves,' she says, 'but-'

'Bruce, right?'

Natasha nods. 'Just like you said, it wouldn't have been fair to him when I was thinking I was cheating on someone else.'

'Please don't tell me he's got _you_ staring at Steve's ass as well?' a new voice enters the conversation and they turn to see Sam walking towards them.

There's a cry of outrage from the mat, and Bucky takes advantage of Steve's distraction to tackle the blond to the floor. 'Bucky, you jerk! That's not fair!'

'Shouldn't let yourself get distracted then Stevie!'

Tony, Sam and Natasha start laughing as the two soldiers tumble around the mat.

'Well, at least I now know I have to make sure the trousers on both of their suits can withstand being tackled by the other so we don't have any splits on the battlefield,' Tony muses. 'Oh and Sam you owe Nat twenty bucks.'

'Aw man,' Sam grumbles, then eyes the spy suspiciously. 'How did _you_ work out what he was doing by the way?'

Natasha smirks. 'Tony was watching when I was having trouble practising switching the functions on my bites because I used to keep them separate in my suit, I never said anything but a couple of days later he turns up with a new set that has easy to change functions on it.'

'Can't believe you didn't just _tell_ me you wanted some that had different functions. It's basically the same thing I did for Clint on his quiver.'

Natasha shrugs. 'I didn't know I did, I'd never used them like that before and thought I'd try it out. Now I'm wishing I _had_ mentioned it earlier.'

'Hey is that why I got some weapon holders in my last wing pack?' Sam asks. 'Because I ran out of ammo when I was doing that assault course?'

'Give the man the prize, he's finally caught on!' Tony laughs, dodging the punch Sam aims at his shoulder.

'Finally caught on to what?' Steve asks as he and Bucky come over to grab their water bottles.

'That there's more than one reason for me coming and watching you guys train,' Tony responds, returning the quick kiss Steve presses to his mouth.

'You mean that you want to see what upgrades would be useful for our gear?' Steve asks.

'Did _everyone_ know about this except me?' Sam demands. 'I could have sworn the only reason Tony came down here was to stare at Cap's ass.'

'Sam, I really don't think Tony would be-'

'Oh no, Steve,' Tony cuts across his partner, 'Sam's got the _main_ reason I come down here right.'

The others laugh at Steve as he blushes bright red and buries his head into Tony's hair to hide it. 'You're impossible,' he mutters into his ear.

'Yeah, but you still love me,' Tony mutters back, grinning as Steve laughs and gives him another kiss.

As the two soldiers go back to the training mat, Sam with them this time, Tony notices a new person entering through the door and catches Natasha's eye, gesturing towards them with his head and then nodding towards Bucky. The smile and answering nod he gets tells him that she's on the same wavelength as him.

'Let's just hope they don't take as long as you and Steve to work out there's something good in front of them. For a genius you sure were pretty stupid.'

'Oh like you can talk,' he huffs.


	2. Bucky

**Bucky**

Bucky had been wary of the training room when he first got persuaded to do a 'proper' training session, he couldn't help the memories of his time as HYDRA's fist pushing to the forefront and, despite his clean bill of mental health (well as far as brain washing was concerned), he was still worried he was going to lose control and hurt someone.

It had been Natasha who had taken him for that first training session, spiriting him away before Steve could notice they'd gone and gently putting him through his paces, only increasing the intensity once she was happy he was comfortable at their current level. He still hasn't thanked her properly. When the Wakandan Accords get agreed, and he has no doubt that Tony will find a way to get them agreed no matter what obstacles people put in his way, Bucky knows that Tony, Steve, Natasha and Fury were going to make one hell of a leadership team. Fury as, in Tony's words, 'the ultimate super spy leader', Steve as combat leader, Tony as their head of all things remotely science related, and Natasha in charge of training. They'd agreed Nat's role in the week they'd joined Peter on his patrols.

If it hadn't been for the red haired former-Russian spy Bucky isn't entirely sure he would have been as comfortable in the training room as he was now. He's still not sure he's been able to thank her properly.

Training with Natasha is still one of his favourite things to do in the training room, on a par with finally being able to train properly with Steve. It's still strange to think the skinny kid from Brooklyn that he used to have to pick up and dust off from whatever alley he'd gotten beaten up in that time is now able to hold his own against him, even beat him.

But Bucky's all-time favourite experience in the training room came one morning when Natasha entered the kitchen as he was helping himself to a mug of coffee.

'Bucky I need to go with Tony to speak to the Council, can you take Pete down to the training room? I was supposed to spend the morning with him.'

'Wait, you want _me_ to train Pete?' he asks, mug forgotten halfway to his mouth. 'Shouldn't Stevie be doing that?'

'Steve's following something up from the HYDRA documents,' she explains, 'and honestly? Pete needs training with someone who can match him with strength, and you _are_ stronger than Steve, despite what he might say, so I was going to ask you to train with him soon anyway.'

'The kid literally held my _metal_ arm like I used to with Steve when he was still a twig when I first met him, you seriously think I'm matching him on _strength_?'

'Stop being a baby. Will you take him for a training session or do I need to ask Sam?'

'Hell no is that bird brain getting in a training session with Pete before me!'

Natasha smirks at him. 'Yeah I thought so. I'll tell him you'll meet him in an hour, that alright?'

'Yeah fine, just let me finish my coffee. Have fun defending Tony from the evil government men.'

'That's not going away any time soon is it?' she sighs.

'Course not, we get to use it against you _and _Tony,' he grins at her and then laughs as she mutters an insult at him in Russian on her way out. 'Love you too, Nat!'

'And they used to say you could charm the clothes off of anyone you wanted. Obviously they were all people who'd never met you!' comes the retort.

Bucky heads to the gym as soon as he finishes his coffee and warms up while he waits for Peter to join him; he's on the punching bag when he hears the door open and someone enter the training room.

'You just going to stand over there, kid, or you actually going to get over here and do some work?' he asks, not stopping in his punches.

He hears an unimpressed huff behind him and grins, catching the swinging bag and looking over his shoulder. 'I was trying not to disturb you,' Peter grumbles, 'next time I'll just tackle you.'

Bucky snorts. 'Like you could. Come on, Spider-Man, let's see what Mommy Spider's been teaching you.'

'Enough to kick your ass,' Peter grins, slipping into a fighting stance that is so very Natasha-like that Bucky can't help an answering grin.

'Whatever you say, kid, now give it your best shot.'

He has to admit Natasha's done a good job of training the kid. The spy's fighting style lends itself to the teen's super speed and coupled with his advanced warning system Peter's giving Bucky one of the trickiest fights of his life. The soldier's still able to land a couple of hits, though not as many as the teen does; he calls a break when he realises the reason Natasha has asked him to train with the kid today.

'Grab your drink,' he says, walking over to his own and trying to get his breathing under control.

'Why? You tired already old man? I can keep going,' Peter taunts.

'No,' he replies by throwing Peter's water bottle to him, 'I've just got an idea of your fighting style and what you need to work on now and it's easier to have this discussion whilst having a break than when you're in the middle of a fight.'

'Whatever you say, Sergeant Barnes,' comes the cocky reply.

'You have been spending way too much time with Tony,' Bucky rolls his eyes. 'Natasha's done a brilliant job of teaching you how to use your speed and slighter build to your advantage because that's how she fights; she's taught you how to use your head to win a fight rather than your strength. The thing is Pete you _have_ the strength to win a straight out contest, but you're not using it and that means you're using up more energy dancing around when you could neutralise a threat much quicker.'

'You mean like you and Steve do?' the teen cocks his head to one side as he takes in the new information. 'I get worried about using my strength though,' he admits, 'all the people I face are usually normal humans and I don't want to do any permanent damage.'

'I get that,' Bucky nods, 'but what about when you come across someone who _isn't_ a regular human? What about if you face someone who can move as fast as you, or faster?'

'Like Wanda's brother could you mean?'

'Exactly. You landed a fair few hits on me, kid, but there was barely any of your strength behind it. _That's_ what we need to focus on today.'

'But,' Peter looks torn, 'I don't want to hurt you.'

Bucky smiles and ruffles his hair. 'That's why we're going to work on it. I can take a lot of what you can throw at me, Pete, trust me I've faced people stronger than me before in a training arena. Now come on, let's get to work.'

By the end of the morning Bucky is proud of the progress Peter's made; the teen is now a lot more confident in using his strength to his advantage during a fight, rather than relying on his manoeuvrability alone and he seems to be developing much more of his own fighting style rather than just repeating what he'd been taught.

'Alright champ let's leave it there for today,' he says when he realises the time, 'otherwise I'll have Tony grumbling I've been keeping you to myself for too long.'

'Do we have to? I was getting the hang of it,' Peter whines, and Bucky laughs at the pout on the teen's face.

'You did really well today, kid, I'm proud of you,' he slings an arm over Peter's shoulders and walks them over to their drinks, impressed with himself for making the youngster out of breath for once. 'Next time we get some training time together I'll take you through some boxing moves.'

'You know how to box?'

'Course I do! I was a champion boxer before the war, beat every bastard in Brooklyn.'

'Before or after they beat up Steve?' Peter asks with a grin; Bucky just winks and grins in reply which makes the younger man laugh. 'Hey Bucky?' he asks as they collect their stuff. 'You know you said you'd faced people stronger than you? Who were they?'

The soldier doesn't look at Peter as he straightens up and sighs. 'The other Winter Soldiers,' he replies. 'They used me to train them and assess their progress. They'd all been given different versions of the serum which meant they were stronger than me.'

'But you still beat them?' comes the quiet question.

'I was still smarter than them,' he says.

There's quiet for a few moments as they finish getting their stuff together, as they head towards the doors Peter adds a thought. 'Maybe that's because, even back then, you still held on to some of you.'

He turns and smiles at the teen, pulling him into a one armed hug as they leave the training room.

Yep. This was definitely his favourite training session.

* * *

_A/N: Hi everyone! I'm back, albeit slightly later than intended. I'm afraid everyone I know seems to have gotten ill at the same time and needed looking after! _

_This is more of a character study and missing scenes special than continuing the storyline but I hope you still enjoy it. I'd be really interested to hear what you guys think about each chapter and if the voices for each of the characters are right. In the meantime I'm hard at work on the Christmas special, do let me know if there's any last minute requests and I'll do my best to accommodate. _

_Hope you all enjoy!_

_Love always,_

_L x_


	3. Sam

**Sam**

Sam had never found training to be the most interesting of activities when he was in the military, it was born out of necessity and only had brief moments of comradery. Training as part of the Avengers is very different. It's still done out of necessity, but with the wide variety of gear and abilities available in the team it's never boring and usually has more laughter than frustration.

Especially when you train with one Tony Stark. Sam's long learned that if he needs training to help him feel better then to grab Tony, they definitely don't get as much useful training done as the others but they'll both be doubled over in laughter by the end of half an hour. Rhodey's a good partner to train with, though they tend to stick to boxing due to the other's injuries; it's a much more reflective training session, but no less fun.

And if Sam really wants to punish himself he'll train with Natasha, and wonder how he's still able to find muscles he never knew existed to hurt after every single session. He's pretty sure even his _teeth_ ached one time.

Then there's training with the soldier twins, which is a little bit like training with a hurricane and usually leaves him trying to find Rhodey for moral support afterwards. Apparently Tony's lifestyle used to have the same effect on Rhodey as training with the soldier twins has on Sam.

There is one particular day that sticks out as being Sam's favourite training session.

'Come on, bird brain, don't tell me you're more chicken than falcon,' Bucky taunts him.

'Your jokes are getting worse with age,' Sam shoots back. 'Why would I take part in a race that includes you and Steve? I got lapped enough times by the Man with the Plan when I first met him, I don't need to add any more to the list thank you. Besides I've got some prep to do for my support group tomorrow morning.'

'Stop making up excuses and move your ass!' Bucky all but drags him from his chair and towards the elevator. 'Come on, it's just a quick lap of the facility.'

'It might just be a _quick_ lap for you two,' he grumbles, 'but for some of us it takes a little longer.' He still follows the soldier out to the grounds and raises an eyebrow when he sees the person waiting next to Steve. 'He didn't tell me they'd roped you into this as well.'

Natasha shrugs. 'I felt like going for a run anyway, at least this way they think they convinced me to do something and it makes them feel better about themselves.'

'Nice to know there's another non-freaky speed person here,' he gives her a smile.

'It's only one lap, Sam,' Bucky chuckles, 'so there's no way you'll be lapped again.'

'Oh screw you,' he mutters.

'Alright kids, around the field, round the back of the facility and finishing back here. We all ready?' Steve asks, the other three nod. 'Alright on your marks, set…go!'

As expected the two super soldiers take off, pushing each other as they go, and they're soon far enough away to not be able to hear what they're saying to each other. Though it's not that difficult to guess considering the punches and attempted trips that occur every couple of minutes. Next to him Natasha sets a fast but steady pace that they can both maintain.

'We're just in it for third place right?' he huffs a laugh.

Natasha grins. 'Unless one of them manages to damage the other in their antics, in which case we stand a chance.'

Sam snorts. 'Yeah like that's ever going to happen.'

'How's the support group going?' she asks, and they spend the majority of the run bouncing around ideas for his support group and how he might be able to expand it. Sam's often wondered why Natasha doesn't come and run some of the sessions with him, or even start her own group, but she always waves off the suggestion whenever he brings it up; he supposes she has such a good understanding of people because, in her profession, she has to know how their minds work, and it provides valuable insights for him. He often wonders if it's a lack of confidence in herself that stops her from doing more.

As they round the back of the facility the sound of a fight reaches their ears. 'What do you thinks going on?' Sam asks as they speed up.

'My guess is it's those two idiots wrestling again,' she replies and as they round the last corner she eases back. 'Yeah, why am I not surprised?'

Sam huffs a laugh as they see the two soldiers wrestling on the ground. 'Hey, Nat? You see what I see?' The two soldiers have stopped before the finish line and they're fighting as to who will get there first.

Natasha grins at him. 'Race you, Sam!'

The two of them start sprinting and Sam can feel the air burning in his lungs as he attempts to stay alongside the spy. 'Hey Cap! On your left!' he manages to gasp out as they approach the wrestling pair.

'Oh hell no am I letting him beat us!' Bucky growls, grabbing for Sam's ankle. The ex-assassin grunts and Sam dodges to the side just as Natasha darts past him to tackle the man on the ground.

'Sam run!' she shouts, laughing as she keeps the two soldiers tangled up.

'I owe you one!' he shouts over his shoulder as he continues towards the finish line.

'Sam! Steve's coming!' he hears the woman shout and he tries to encourage a little more speed out of his legs as he hears the soldier thundering up behind him.

'On your-oomph!'

'Go on, Sam!' Wanda laughs from the front of the facility.

'Wanda that's not fair!' Steve says from behind him, but his complaints are lost to the shouts of celebration and congratulations from Sam and the two women as he crosses the finish line.

* * *

'You broke my nose,' Bucky sulks as Natasha takes the seat opposite him at the dinner table.

'And I reset it for you,' she rolls her eyes as she sits next to Sam, 'stop being such a baby, you'll be fine by the time you go to bed.'

'You broke my nose so Sam could win a race.'

'You know for such a big bad assassin you are such a wuss,' she shakes her head. 'Can you pass the rolls, Sam?'

He grins and passes her the basket. 'I still owe you for that by the way.'

'Hey what about me?' Wanda demands from the end of the table.

'Both of you,' he amends with a grin at Steve. 'Couldn't have done it without you.'

'This is borderline mutiny!' the blond complains just as Tony walks through the door.

'What's borderline mutiny?' the genius asks, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

'Sshh, it's a wild Tony Stark! They don't normally venture out of their natural environment, don't startle it,' Wanda teases, laughing when Tony flips her the middle finger.

'Wanda tripped me up so I couldn't beat Sam in the race,' Steve explains, still pouting, 'and Natasha-'

'Nat broke my nose!' Bucky sulks.

'Shut up about your damn nose,' Wanda rolls her eyes.

'Don't worry Buckaroo she didn't ruin your good looks,' Tony laughs, then takes the spare seat next to Steve. 'Let me guess, you're not so annoyed at being beaten as you are that Sam, I'm guessing, used your own line against you?'

'Of course I did!' Sam laughs. 'I wasn't passing up that opportunity!'

'Good man!' Tony winks at him, then laughs at Steve's expression. 'Oh come on, Cap. You're the one that's telling us we need to improve our teamwork, just look at this as an example of that teamwork coming into play.'

'I should be happy that the team work better together to take out me and Buck than they do in the training room?' Steve deadpans.

'At least we're improving,' Wanda laughs, then turns to greet Vision and Rhodey as they enter the room.

'What's going on?' Rhodey asks. 'And why do Steve and Bucky look like someone's stolen their puppy?'

'Sam beat them in a race today,' Natasha explains, 'with some help from the two best female Avengers of course.'

'You're the only female Avengers, no?' Vision asks.

'Vis… never mind,' Wanda sighs.

'Did you use the "on your left" line?' Rhodey asks him.

'Of course,' Sam grins.

'Good man!' Rhodes replies amidst fresh protests from the two solders. Sam can't help but laugh and dig into his dinner, more grateful than he could say that he has a place amongst this crazy group of misfits.


	4. Wanda

**Wanda**

Wanda doesn't often train against the rest of the team, although she does her own workouts in the gym to stay in shape and so she can keep up on the battlefield, her powers mean she doesn't need the same kind of combat training as the others. She's been given basic hand to hand combat training, and knows how to disarm someone without her powers should she ever need to keep her powers hidden during a mission, and has regular 'top up' lessons with Steve or Natasha, but that's the extent of it.

Her training mainly comes from needing to fine tune the control over her powers and seeing how far she can push them, not to mention practising using them to help her teammates, such as levitating them to a place they can't reach. Tony has come up with some amazing tech to help her with this, and Vision is usually the one in the room with her as she uses it, he having more of an idea on how she could expand her powers than anyone else.

There is one part of her training that not many of the others know about that has to be her favourite part of her regime. She has weekly ballet lessons with Natasha.

'Come on Wanda you can do better than that,' the older woman says as she loses her balance and nearly goes flying to the floor. 'Where's your head today?'

'Wanting to be in bed,' she grumbles to herself. 'I don't know what it is today I just can't get it, Nat,' she huffs, slipping to sit cross legged on the floor. 'Maybe we should just call it a day.'

'Oh no you don't,' the red head replies, coming to sit next to her. 'I'm not letting you walk out of here beating yourself up or you'll never come back in. Come on lets go through some of the more basic stuff again.'

Sighing Wanda nods and climbs to her feet, knowing Natasha isn't going to take no for an answer, and lets the older woman talk her through a fairly basic routine.

'Alright, let's try it again,' she says when Wanda feels a little more relaxed again.

'Fine,' she groans, but does as she's told, remembering all the tips and instructions Natasha has given her all the months they've been doing this. 'Hey!' her eyes fly open and she smiles, 'I'm doing it!'

Natasha laughs just as the door opens and, distracted, Wanda loses her balance. 'What are you two doing?' Peter asks, frowning down at her from her spot on the floor.

'I _was_ doing really well at a new ballet move and then you walked in and ruined it by distracting me,' she huffs, letting Natasha pull her to her feet.

'Since when have you been doing ballet?' he asks.

'Since a month or so after everyone came back.'

'And you didn't mention it because?'

'Just like you never mentioned being bi you mean?' Wanda shoots back and the teenager just grumbles.

'No offense but how is ballet supposed to help you?' he asks.

'It builds core strength,' Natasha explains, 'improves your balance and stamina as well; it's perfect for Wanda as she doesn't need to do the same kind of training we do. It was one of the first things they taught us when I started my training.'

'Huh,' he replies, and heads towards the climbing wall that they'd taken all of the handholds off for the web-slinger to use.

Wanda grins to Natasha. 'Not tempted to join us, Pete?'

Peter laughs. 'Yeah how about no? I have no sense of rhythm at all, trust me you do not want to see me trying to dance.'

'Seriously?' Natasha raises an eyebrow. 'Because I'd say you would be pretty good considering your abilities.'

The boy seems to pause half way to the wall and sighs before responding. 'I used to want to take dance classes when I was younger, street dance and stuff like that rather than something like ballet, but we could never afford it and I wasn't what you'd call a natural either. I haven't really tried since I got my powers, but it's not like I need _another_ thing for the kids at school to tease me about. They've already got a list a mile long.'

'Oh come on it's only us,' Wanda says, 'its good fun, Pete. Please?'

He shakes his head and huffs another laugh. 'Nope. You continue your little dance lesson and I'll go practise my climbing.'

'Core control would be good for climbing,' she tries again.

'Yeah and I get more than enough core workouts from Cap, thanks all the same.'

'He's just scared you'll be so much better than him and he won't be able to keep up,' Natasha tells her, turning her back to the teenager and winking at Wanda. She tries to keep her face neutral and she nods through Peter's spluttered denials.

'True, ah well, guess we'll never find out who the better dancer is then,' she adds.

'Alright that does it!' Peter huffs. 'Give me your best shot!'

Wanda grins and slings an arm around the teenager's shoulders as he stomps over. 'Fell right into our trap didn't he, Nat?'

'So easy,' the older woman laughs as comprehension dawns on Peter's face.

'I hate you both,' he huffs.

It easily ranks as one of Wanda's favourite ballet lessons ever. Peter was wrong when he said he wasn't a natural, or perhaps it was his improved balance from his powers and the core work he'd been doing as his training, but he quickly grasped the more basic routines and was able to keep up with her.

They teased each other, and Natasha, all the way through and sometimes the two of them would end up laughing so hard they couldn't do any of the moves and Natasha would look at them with a mixture of fondness and exasperation until they'd calmed down enough to carry on. Wanda also found she was doing much better now she had someone to compare and compete against.

'Ok you two that's it for today. I'm not sure I can take much more,' Natasha laughs as the two of them collapse into a laughing heap on the floor.

'Aww but I was just getting the hang of that one,' Peter complains.

'Says the person who didn't want to join in the first place,' Wanda teases him, laughing as he sticks his tongue out at her. 'You going to join us every week?'

'Can I?' he looks between the two of them. 'I mean I don't want to take away your time together-'

'Course you can,' she cuts him off.

'She did a lot better having you here to bounce off of anyway,' Natasha adds, 'literally in one or two cases. Though if you two continue to make as much progress as you did today we may have to get a professional tutor in for you.'

'We could put on an Avengers dance show,' Wanda grins, 'and have Steve in the lead.'

The three of them burst out laughing. 'I just want to get Bucky in a tutu,' Peter sniggers.

As they gather their things to leave Wanda finds she suddenly understands why the others all have a couple of different groups or individuals they train with: training with someone else is much more fun and pushes you to do more. The other plus side, as far as she's concerned, is it means she gets a little more time to spend with her adopted brother. As always there's a slight sting of pain and guilt when she thinks of Peter like that. She wasn't entirely sure how they'd ended up becoming so close, it had just grown naturally over time, and she never thought of him as a replacement for her twin. At one point the similar name, the energetic personality, the joking nature, it had all been so painfully similar that she nearly had looked to him to replace Pietro. But it was remembering what he'd been like when they first met, when he'd been held hostage and used against Tony, how frustrated he'd been with himself, how he'd tried desperately to prove he could do what the team needed him to, how he'd been so determined to protect his friend but he'd doubted himself the whole time. It reminded her so much of how she'd felt when she'd first joined the team after Pietro's death.

In a way she thought of Peter as a mix of her and her twin, but he'd never replace him. Pietro had been the other part of her soul, her opposite and yet her doppleganger; losing him had been like losing half of herself. Pietro had always tried to protect her, seen it as his duty to look after her once their parents were dead because he was the man of the family. It was why he'd signed up to Stryker's experiments and he'd tried to tell her she couldn't do the same, all in an effort to protect her from the man they saw as causing their parents' deaths. The very man who now housed her, fed her, paid for everything she wanted, and who she'd freely admit she loved like a second father. The man who made sure Pietro wouldn't be forgotten.

Her joining the experiments had been one of the few times they'd had a proper argument, but she'd reminded him of their promise: "Where you go I go. Together, always."

Until he'd left her behind.

'Hey you alright?' Peter asks next to her, bringing her out of her thoughts.

'Yeah,' she replies, though she's not sure she convinces him.

'How about I make us banana splits?' he suggests. 'Then we can find a way to put hair dye in Bucky's shampoo so it dyes his hair orange.'

She laughs. 'Sounds good to me.'

No one would be able to completely fill the hole that Pietro left, but she's glad she's got Peter to fill part of it.

* * *

_A/N: Hi everyone! Thank you so much to all of you who are still reading this story, and especially to everyone who has left reviews. Please do let me know what you think of these two chapters, I think they've been some of my favourite ones to write so far._

_Progress is a little slow with the Christmas story but I should have something to start posting from next week. As for this instalment I'll try and do a couple of updates a week until they're all up as I seem to have more chapters than I do weeks to post them!_

_Love always,_

_L x_


	5. Bruce

**Bruce**

Even before Ultron and his rapid exit from Earth Bruce has avoided the training room. Anything that might accidentally bring out the Other Guy is always a good thing to avoid and, unfortunately, his teammates pranking antics during training have always been high on the list of things to avoid.

The only times he enters the training room is if someone has hurt themselves and doesn't think it's serious enough to head to the medical wing but still want to get it checked. Or in the case of Tony Stark: doesn't want to go to the medical wing at all but knows the team will tell him off if someone with some medical training doesn't take a look at his injury. Sometimes Bruce really wants to question the label 'genius' for that man.

There's been some rather interesting moments he's been called in to help with. One of the moments that sticks in his mind was when Thor and Tony were working with Thor's lightning and the god had managed to short the electrics in the training room which, when Tony had gone to look at, had then electrocuted the inventor and sent him flying across the room; despite his assurances he was fine Thor had insisted that Bruce came to check him over. The sight of Tony Stark sitting propped up against a wall, with the god of thunder rivalling Steve in the mother hen department, with his hair sticking up all over the place and a large purple egg blooming on his forehead from where he'd hit the wall had Bruce doubling over in laughter and having to try and tend to his friend through tears streaming down his face. Other than bruised pride and the lump on his head Tony had been fine, but Bruce had still insisted JARVIS wake him up regularly through the night in case he had a concussion. The inventor hadn't come out of his workshop for a week until the lump on his forehead had gone and Clint was still upset he hadn't got to see Tony's 'electrician' look as it had since been dubbed. Steve had been beside himself with worry for the whole week, though had tried to hide it from the team, but Bruce had walked in on him asking JARVIS for updates on the inventor throughout the whole week.

Really he should have worked out there was more to their friendship, at least on Steve's side, back then. But hindsight and all that.

By far the most interesting thing he has ever been called into though, and that includes Clint's arrows covering him in bright pink powder which he still hasn't found out _how_ exactly that happened, has to have been not long after he'd returned with Thor.

'Dr Banner?'

'Yes FRIDAY?' Bruce looks up from his experiment.

'Peter is asking if you could help him with something in the training room, it's rather urgent.'

'Let me guess he's managed to hurt himself and doesn't want to go to the medical wing,' Bruce sighs, 'I swear if he ends up being as bad as Tony I'm going on strike.' The kid wasn't quite as bad as Tony in a lot of ways yet, but the scientist has a feeling that if he continues spending so much time with the billionaire then it's only a matter of time before Tony has his own mini-me.

He is not expecting the sight that greets him when he walks into the training room.

'What on earth has happened in here?' he asks, blinking at the sight of the sticky web-like substance that is covering _every_ single surface in the room.

'Err…Dr Banner can you help get me out?' a small voice says from the middle of the room. Scratch that, hanging dead centre in the middle of the room nearly five feet above the ground.

'Kid what have you been _doing_?' Bruce asks, wondering how he's supposed to reach the body that is wrapped up in the webs.

'So long story short I may have been tinkering with my web shooters in the workshop to see if I could put in a function with more power and I swear I thought I had it right and I asked FRIDAY to run loads of tests and everything, so I thought I'd come and try them out and they… well they kind of exploded and when I tried to come up and get rid of them I…err well I may have got a bit tangled up in the webs and…well you can see.'

Bruce takes in the bright red face poking out from the cocoon of webs holding the rest of the teenager's body, his hands have been trapped behind him, hence why he's finding it so difficult to get out of this himself. 'How long until they wear off?'

'Like three hours, and I really don't want Bucky to come in and find me like this because then I'm never going to hear the end of it, and if Tony finds out he might be mad that I've been working on the shooters when I didn't run it by him first and-'

'Alright, alright I get the idea,' Bruce rubs his temples. 'How can we speed up the process?'

'There's a bottle in my bag over by the door,' he gestures with his head which leaves him spinning around in a circle, 'dammit. There's a bottle in my bag that has the label 'anti-web' on it. Can you get it out for me? If we put it on the webs holding me I should be able to get out and then sort out all the err…'

'The stuff that's covering every other surface you mean? You're just lucky it's not all over the floor so I could get in here,' Bruce chuckles as he picks his way through the clear parts of the floor to reach the teenager's backpack. 'So I have to ask: if you were experimenting with the webs why didn't you think to add the anti-web fluid to one of your shooters in case this happened?'

When he turns around he can't resist laughing at the wide-eyed expression on Peter's face. 'Um… that's a really good point. Wow I really should come and ask you about my shooters as well as Tony!'

'Oh no,' he counters, 'no, no, no. Last time I got dragged into inventing something Ultron happened.'

'But that wasn't your fault!' Peter argues.

'How am I going to get this up to you?' Bruce muses, realising the kid is out of arm's reach. Then he spots a chair and goes to grab it. 'If I get one of your arms free think that'll be enough?'

'Uh huh,' Peter nods.

'I suppose Tony has you believing that Ultron is all his fault right?' he asks once he returns with the chair.

'That's what he told me, but I don't really believe it,' Peter responds.

Bruce smiles despite himself, damn the kid was loyal to Tony. 'Yeah well it may not have been _entirely_ his fault, but just make sure you don't blind yourself to Tony's faults, kid. As much as I love Tony, he is a live wire and he needs to be told when to stop.'

'Oh I wasn't saying he wasn't at fault for it, Dr Banner, I know that both you and he worked to give Ultron the chance to come to life,' Peter sighs in relief as one arm comes free, 'ah that's so much better! Gah!'

Unfortunately the substance has worked quicker than either of them is expecting on the rest of the webs and the kid goes sprawling on the floor, rubbing his head and sitting up. 'Ow, that hurt. Thanks for getting me out, Dr Banner!'

'No worries, kid, I'm just sorry it was a bit of a rougher landing than intended.'

'Oh that's alright. I'll get working on the rest of the webs. Man there really is more fluid in those shooters than I thought.'

Bruce gets down from the chair then frowns as he remembers Peter's response. 'Kid, what do you mean about Ultron?'

'Huh? Oh, I mean I know you and Tony gave Ultron the chance to come about then, but it wasn't entirely your fault he happened. I mean he was sentient right from the beginning right?'

'Yeah…'

'And he came from the mind stone that was inside of Loki's sceptre, or at least in some way he did? Well the sceptre had been owned by HYDRA, Loki _and_ the Chitauri before you guys got hold of it, and who knows who else had owned it before them, right? So Ultron was sentient and had been existing in the sceptre he'd have been learning from all of them as well, and most of them wanted to destroy or control the world in some way. So when he heard your plan to put armour around the world-'

'-he took it as a way to control the world because that's what everyone else had wanted to do,' Bruce finishes, his eyes wide. 'But everyone blamed Tony because Ultron used _his_ words rather than any of the others because they were the last ones he'd heard.'

Peter shrugs. 'That's just the way I look at it. I mean I know he took on a lot of Tony's worst personality traits from that time as well, but I think a lot of those old influences also played a part in how he went about trying to follow Tony's plan. I'm not saying Tony can't sometimes be a bit overenthusiastic when it comes to protecting people around him, I mean I know that more than most people, and there's times I thought he was a bit harsh on me. But that's just the way he is, he kind of bulldozes his way through things when he's scared, but it doesn't mean he doesn't care. Plus he's much better now than he used to be back then.'

Bruce watches the teenager as he works at getting rid of the webs, eyes wide. He's never looked at Ultron in that way before, and a large part of him leaving after the Sokovia incident had to do with the fact that he thought he was too dangerous to be on Earth either as Hulk or as Bruce. As Hulk he could level an entire city if left to his own devices. As Bruce he'd helped create Ultron.

But if Peter was right no matter what they'd done there was no way they'd have been able to control Ultron. He would always have turned against them.

'Do you think Ultron could have come to life without mine and Tony's intervention?' he asks, trying to sound like the answer to the question didn't matter as much as it did.

Peter pauses in his work, his head tilted to one side as he thinks, worrying his bottom lip and with a look of concentration on his face that is so familiar he's actually beginning to wonder if Peter isn't actually a long lost love child of Tony's younger years. The teenager nods, bringing Bruce from his musings. 'I think he would have done. HYDRA would have created him, if not someone else, if you guys hadn't. AI is one of the big races right? Someone would eventually have given him some form of life, maybe not the exact way you guys did, but definitely in some way. I think, from what I've heard, he was _wanting_ to be created, to break out from the sceptre, and he was influencing the people around him, kind of like what the sceptre did to all of you on the Helicarrier with Loki.'

'Where have you been getting all this information?' Bruce frowns.

Peter shrugs. 'The team likes to talk about old missions and stuff, so it's just a case of listening. Plus Vision has some really interesting insights on the Ultron incident, you should talk to him about it if you're interested in Ultron actually, I mean I've stayed up till like three in the morning talking to him about it. It's so interesting.'

'Huh,' Bruce says, feeling a little of the guilt he feels over Ultron starting to fade away. As he turns to leave he pauses. 'Hey kid? Nat says you're a huge science fan, why don't you come by the lab some time and we'll do some work together?'

The grin on the teenager's face could have split it in half. 'Are you serious? Dr Banner that'd be so awesome! I've loved reading your papers for years! Like how did you even think to try using gamma radiation with-'

Bruce laughs. 'You bring all those questions to the lab when you've got rid of these webs. And next time make sure you've got some of that anti-web fluid in the shooters yeah? I must admit this is the first time I've had to cut a spider out of their own web.'

Peter blushes, but he's still grinning. 'Sure thing, Dr Banner. Can I come see you this afternoon?'

'Come see me anytime kid,' he replies with a smile, then leaves him to his cleaning as he walks out the door. 'And thank you,' he says quietly once he's left the training room.


	6. Steve

**Steve**

For Steve the training room has always been a safe space. It was the one thing that hadn't changed all that much since before the ice, it still made sense and it was the one place he could go to sort through everything in his head.

Then when he'd joined the Avengers it was the perfect place to bond with each of his team mates. Some, admittedly, faster than others; he hadn't been much of a fan of Tony's sharp tongue at first. He's still not at times, though generally only when the inventor is trying to upset the wrong people.

There's so many good memories in the training room now, starting from his first days as an Avenger right the way through to today. Even if they are preparing for an alien invasion and the potential end of the world.

But Steve's favourite thing about the training room is really rather simple. Ever since he'd met Bucky back when they were snot-nosed kids running around the Brooklyn back streets – ok so Bucky had been running and Steve had been wheezing along behind him – he'd always wished he could keep up with the brunette. All he'd ever wanted was to make him proud in a fight, and not have to be picked up and dusted off from the floor. Now he's able to hold his own against the other man. He's even bested him a couple of times.

Steve's favourite thing about the training room is being able to box with Bucky just like he'd always wished he could when he was young and curled up in bed fighting off yet another lung infection that could be the one to claim his life.

'Are you ever going to learn to duck those punches?' Bucky huffs in frustration as he pulls back before giving him a black eye. Again.

'What you think I can't take a couple of punches?'

Bucky rolls his eyes as he jumps back out of the way of one of Steve's left hooks. 'I think you should be more interested in keeping your injuries to a minimum than trying to be a Neanderthal and prove you can take a couple of blows to the head. You ain't got enough brain cells to be losing some every time you enter a fight, Stevie.'

'Very funny,' Steve rolls his eyes, then lashes out with a kick.

'Hey I thought we were boxing?' Bucky scowls. 'What's with the dirty moves Rogers?'

'You always used to tell me to fight dirty!'

'Yeah when we were younger and you were thin enough for the guys you picked on to use as a tooth pick!'

They try and resolve their argument through wrestling. No surprises when it ends in a draw. They decide to take a break and go to sit on the benches where they've left their water bottles, Steve wipes at his face and neck with his towel and leans back against the wall behind them, his thoughts wandering in the quiet room.

'What you thinking about, Stevie?' Bucky asks after a few moments of quiet, leaning back against the wall next to him.

'The Commandos,' he replies, still staring straight ahead even though his vision isn't focussing on any one thing. 'You ever think about them, Buck?'

The dark haired man next to him sighs. 'Yeah, a lot of the time, Stevie. Sometimes I wake up and forget we're eighty years in the future and I look around wondering why I'm not in a bunker with Dum Dum next to me.'

'Yeah I had that at first, but I think being part of the Avengers meant that stopped pretty quick. You know Dum Dum took over leading the Commandos after I crashed the plane? I always thought he'd do well leading a group. Had plans after the war to grow the team and split into two with him leading the other one.'

'You saying you didn't trust me to lead them?'

Steve smiles and shakes his head. 'Didn't want to lose you as my right hand man, Buck,' he replies. 'Anyway if something had gone south on a mission and I went down or got separated from the group you were the only one who'd be able to get them back to base.'

'And come find your punk ass afterwards,' Bucky grins.

'You remember Monty and Dum Dum getting into that war-long argument about which country made the best whiskey?' Steve asks, a grin on his lips.

Bucky bursts out laughing. 'Yeah and it was all my fault that started. I'd been to the bar to get them each their drink and then mixed up the glasses when I gave them their orders.'

'Dum Dum called Monty's scotch pigs piss, and Monty told him it was better than whatever animal had pissed out the bourbon he'd been given.'

'I thought those two were going to have a fight right there in the bar!' Bucky's got tears streaming down his face now.

'They decided to settle it by who got the most kills during their time with the Commandos. I actually looked up their confirmed kills to find out who won the bet.'

'And?'

'They drew,' Steve laughs along with his best friend. 'Never did find out what happened to Monty after he left the Commandos, but I knew he died before I was found.' Bucky's gone quiet next to him, rolling his water bottle between his hands. 'Buck? What's up?'

Bucky sighs, head still down as he responds. 'When I was the Winter Soldier I was lucky they never put me up against the team directly, I think they were worried it might get through the conditioning if I saw old friends. There were a couple of times another team was sent against them and I was in the background as back up; I tell you what Stevie you'd be proud of them all from what I saw from my vantage points,' he laughs a little. 'But then, later on, I did a couple of missions in the UK and I'd come up against this guy, dark coloured uniform that hid his face, I think he was a vigilante of some description, but he'd be able to slow me down, make me screw up. I never did find out who he was, I don't think anyone really knew, and I never knew what name they gave him, but some of his strategies… they reminded me, now I can look back on it, of Monty's from the war. He was a damn good shot as well-'

'Just like Monty. You think he became a vigilante after he stopped fighting?'

Bucky laughs. 'That guy was never going to stop fighting, Stevie, but I think he may have found a way to carry on after he got married.'

Steve makes a thoughtful noise. 'I might get Nat to take a look into it, see if we can work out if it was Monty.'

'Does it matter?'

Steve shrugs. 'I just…they were some of our closest friends, Buck, I feel bad not knowing some of this most basic stuff about where their lives went except from the slim reports that Fury gave me when I first woke up.'

There's a couple of moments quiet again. Then Bucky breaks it. 'You remember Jacques blowing up that tank by rolling under it and strapping the bomb underneath?'

Steve laughs, glad their conversation has gone back to a happier note. 'I did _not_ want him to do that.'

'Yeah your mother hen started right then, I was trying not to laugh the whole time we were watching him, you looked like you were torn between shitting yourself and running after him.' Bucky laughs as Steve takes a swipe at him.

'I didn't want him to get hurt, there was so much that could have gone wrong-'

'Oh come off it Jacques knew exactly what he was doing.'

'Yeah but-'

'Oh shut it Stevie. He left the team after the war didn't he?'

Steve nods. 'Went back to France, settled down and got married. Though there were quite a few complaints from neighbours about explosions from his farm land.'

Bucky sniggers. 'Sounds like Jacques.'

'You hear that Gabe married Peggy in the end?'

'You're kidding!'

Steve smiles and nods. 'Yeah, apparently caused quite a stir considering he was black.'

'Oh I can imagine what Peggy's response to that was,' Bucky laughs.

'I wish they'd recorded it, but yes apparently she was a proper firework over it whenever people tried to tell her she shouldn't be with him.'

'I'm surprised she left them alive!'

'Did a lot to help with the equality movements apparently. They went to Martin Luther King's march at the Lincoln Memorial and were high profile guests there.'

'Surprised she risked that considering the work she was going,' Bucky muses.

'Yeah but she obviously felt it was worth the risk,' Steve replies. 'I hear they continued working closely together, she must have found his multiple languages useful; I hear he learned more after the war.'

'Smart bastard,' Bucky chuckles.

'You know Morita helped Fury a couple of times?'

'No shit!'

Steve laughs. 'Yeah he flitted between the Commandos and helping Fury a couple of times before he decided to give up fighting and settled down. According to the file Fury kept going back and asking him to reconsider.'

'Let me guess he told Fury to piss off?'

'Something along those lines,' Steve smirks. 'It's weird isn't it?' How different the Commandos are to the Avengers? The Commandos were some of our best friends, but-'

'But the Avengers are more like our family,' Bucky nods. 'Maybe it's because we're out of our time,' he shrugs. 'Maybe it's because there's so much more shit we've healed from with them, but either way it's a different feeling with this team. Wouldn't trade my time with the Commandos for anything.'

'I agree,' Steve nods, 'but I'm glad we found these guys.'

'Come on, punk, let's see how many more times I can knock you on your ass.'

'Jerk,' he mutters, knocking away the arm Bucky tries to ruffle his hair with. He feels better having spoken with Bucky about their old team, for a while it had felt like they shouldn't bring them up, but now it felt like a small weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

Captain America may have swapped the Howling Commandos for the Avengers, but Steve Rogers still missed his old teammates. The only person who knew them like he had was Bucky; he'd been wanting to ask Tony about what he remembered about the Commandos from his childhood but hadn't had the courage yet. He still wasn't sure why. Now he thinks he and Tony and Bucky should sit down and have that discussion together.

First though, he needs to knock Bucky's punk ass into the floor.

* * *

_A/N: Hey everyone. Thank you for all my reviews on this story so far. Do let me know what you think of these two chapters, especially about Peter's thoughts on Ultron and the stories with the Commandos here._

_So this chapter took a lot of research into what happened in the comics with the Commandos, but it was actually a lot of fun to do. In the comics Monty becomes Union Jack, and Peggy Carter and Gabe Jones have one of the first inter-racial relationships to be portrayed in comics; since I'm not having Steve go back in time to be with Peggy (spoiler! but I'm sure you guessed that anyway) I actually really liked the idea of having that relationship for her instead. I'd be interested to hear if you guys would like to see the conversation between Tony, Steve and Bucky about the Commandos, either as a special or in one of the main instalments._

_Anyway hope you enjoy these two chapters, hopefully I will get some more of the Christmas story written this weekend so I can start posting it next week._

_Thank you so much as always for all your support._

_Love always,_

_L x_


	7. Rhodes

**Rhodes**

Rhodes doesn't spend as much time in the training room as he used to, for obvious reasons. He'll be the first to admit he misses it, even though he and Sam more than make up for it with the amount of training they do with their suits. The other man regularly boxes with him as well, making sure it's more static training than when any of the others box to compensate for his walking brace. Rhodes isn't stupid he knows why Sam does so much to help him find ways around his training: he still feels responsible for the accident that caused his injury in the first place.

He'll be the first to admit he almost enjoys training more now than he did before, mainly because there's so many different things he's doing now whereas he always had a fixed routine before. He still has a routine he does each morning and evening, but that's more about keeping up his strength and stamina, rather than building on it too much.

Sometimes Natasha takes him for shooting practise, and there was one particular day when the two of them had a shooting competition with Bucky. Which was memorable to say the least.

'Come on Widow you just don't want to admit that I'm a better shot than you,' Bucky's cocky grin has Natasha's eyes narrowing and Rhodes knows he's in trouble now.

'You sure about that Barnes?' she counters.

'Well if he is it's only because he's got like eighty years experience on you,' Rhodes interjects. 'And you do have to be kind to old people.'

'Hey! Who you calling old?'

'Well if the shoe fits,' Rhodes shrugs.

'You think you can keep up fly boy? Let's have a competition. Winner gets their next turn to cook done by the losers,' Bucky suggests.

'Oh _really_ big bet,' Natasha rolls her eyes at Rhodes, but they're also twinkling in mischief. She knows how good a shot all three of them are, if she's got that look in her eye it means they all have an equal chance. 'What we using?'

'Handguns,' Rhodes interrupts, shrugging at the questioning looks. 'If we use anything with too much kickback I got to change the settings and I can't be bothered.' He gestures to his brace and the other two nod in agreement, Bucky throwing him a handgun and a few rounds of ammo.

'Best of three?' the man suggests, metal fingers deftly preparing the gun almost on autopilot.

'Why don't we do five rounds? We'll get FRIDAY to keep track,' Natasha replies. 'Ten shots for each round.'

'No cheating now, Barnes,' Rhodes jokes, 'I know you're going to need all the help you can get but FRIDAY will know if you do.'

'Oh please,' the soldier rolls his eyes, 'if I wasn't a good shot Steve would have been killed within his first three missions with the Commandos.'

'Yeah but you don't have a sniper scope to do the work for you this time,' Natasha teases, going to stand in front of her target. 'Now are you two ready or am I going to have done all five of my rounds before you even find your way to the target?'

'She's cruel,' Rhodes laughs.

'Try doing hand to hand training with her,' Bucky genuinely shudders and Rhodes laughs as the two of them take their places either side of Natasha.

'Ready?' the red head asks.

'Born ready,' Bucky winks. Rhodes just sighs and shakes his head, raising his own gun.

'Go!'

The rapid gunfire makes it almost impossible to tell which of them is making the shot before they've all shot their first round.

'Reload. FRIDAY set up the next round,' Natasha says.

'We're not finding out who's in the lead?' Bucky questions.

'Way more fun to find out at the end,' she winks. 'Ready? Fire!'

Rhodes doesn't even have chance to add his view before they're firing another round. They make quick work of the following three and, while FRIDAY calculates their scores, the three of them sit down to clean their weapons together. This is something Rhodes misses the most from his time in the military; the steady movements of cleaning the weapons relaxes him more than any therapy ever has, and the three of them talk and joke in soft voices as they work.

'Alright FRIDAY, let us know who won,' Natasha says as they put away their weapons.

'Displaying on the screen for you now, Agent Romanoff,' the AI responds.

'No way!' Bucky roars when he sees the results. 'No way!'

* * *

'Is he still sulking?' Rhodes asks as he walks into the common area later, eyeing the disgruntled Winter Soldier sitting in the corner.

'Apparently it's not sulking,' Sam rolls his eyes, 'he's, and I quote, "processing to see how he can improve".'

'He's sulking,' Wanda laughs from the sofa.

'Well this is what happens when you set up competitions,' Rhodes laughs, taking a seat next to the girl.

Before anyone else can respond Tony and Steve enter the common area; as Tony goes to get them some drinks Steve raises an eyebrow at the slouched figure of his childhood friend. 'Ok, anyone want to explain why Bucky's sulking?'

'I'm not sulking!' the dark haired man responds.

'He, Nat and Rhodey had a shooting competition earlier,' Wanda sighs, 'and the prize was the winner got their next turn at cooking done by the losers.'

'I'm guessing Bucky didn't win considering his mood,' Steve sighs.

'Nope,' Sam laughs.

'Let me guess: Honeybear won right?' Tony smirks, handing Steve a steaming mug of coffee.

'How did you guess?' Bucky asks him, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

'Buckaroo I've never known Rhodey lose a shooting competition. There was even this one time he was so drunk he could barely stand up straight, yet he still managed to beat two stone-cold sober rookies.'

'That was entirely your fault,' Rhodes frowns at him, 'you were the one getting the drinks and I _told_ you I didn't want to drink.'

'Shouldn't have trusted me with getting the drinks then,' Tony shrugs with an unapologetic grin. 'But I must admit I'm still impressed you beat both Bucky _and _Nat.'

'The worst thing was Natasha wasn't surprised,' Bucky moans. 'I swear it was a set up.'

'Probably,' Sam laughs, 'and she wouldn't have done it if you hadn't been boasting about your sniper skills.'

'Don't worry Bucky I'll be glad to give you some tips,' Rhodes laughs, catching the cushion Bucky throws at him and launching it back at the dark haired man.


	8. Natasha

**Natasha**

Natasha has always spent a good part of her time in the training room, for a variety of reasons. Initially it was habit, then it became a way to scope out the abilities of the team she was to work with, and then to build relationships with the people she'd work with for a couple of months before moving on to a solo mission or another team.

When she joined the Avengers it was a way to bond with her new teammates and learn how to work with the wide range of abilities within the team. Then she became one of the main trainers for the new team members.

But if she ever wants a training session to just be a bit of fun and release some frustration, she'll ask Tony to give her some new tech that needs testing. And that's why she finds herself knocking on the door of the inventor's workshop and stepping through the door as it glides open.

'What can I do for you, Nat?' he asks, not looking up from where he's buried in the internal workings of one of the War Machine suits. 'Ow, dammit,' he curses pulling one of his hands out and shaking it.

'You got anything that needs testing?' she asks, perching on one of the stools near the door. She's learned the hard way it's always better to stay as far away from Tony and inventing as possible if you don't want to get singed.

He doesn't answer straight away, finishing what he is working on and then asking FRIDAY to run diagnostics. Then he turns to face her, wiping his hands on a rag. 'Tough day?' She grimaces in response and he just nods, wheeling his stool over to one of his many desktops. 'I've got something I was looking at for everyone to have a couple of. Some smoke and stun grenades that we can throw and attach to any surface and can be activated remotely. Fancy some target practise?'

'Sounds good to me. They aren't armed are they?'

Tony puts a hand to his chest in mock offense. 'Agent Romanoff it's as if you don't trust me.'

'After you made us test the last stun grenades with the _stun gas_ in them, I don't,' she smirks.

'Touché,' he chuckles. 'I promise these are only filled with a new harmless powder. I made it after our last mishap so that it's easy to see the effectiveness whilst we test them.'

'Just as long as we don't have to spend an afternoon in the medical wing,' she laughs and follows him out the door and to the training room, taking one of the boxes from him as she does.

* * *

'Ok Tony, I have to admit you've done it again,' Natasha says, still amazed the genius can still surprise her. 'These were not what I was expecting.'

Tony just shoots her a smug grin. 'Why doubt my genius?'

'I definitely don't doubt your ego,' she rolls her eyes. 'When you said they could be activated remotely you failed to mention they could be _moved_ remotely as well. This is the kind of stuff I would have killed for when I was first starting out.' The inventor had done more than make moveable grenades, he'd fitted them with microphones and cameras so they could be used to gather information as well.

'My thought was we can send them in where we need to get information and then, to help with the element of surprise, either flood an area with smoke or stun our enemies before we go in and finish off the job. It'll make it much easier for small group missions.'

'Just where do you get all of these ideas from?' she asks, bending to pick up some more of the grenades and fitting them to the glove Tony had given her when they'd started. At the moment they have to be used with the practise glove, but he's hoping to incorporate the design into their uniforms. At least that's what he's told her.

'I'm not about to give up all of my secrets, Nat, you should know better than that,' he laughs, sending another of the smoke bombs to land near the air conditioning and setting it off, having FRIDAY put the extraction power of the unit up to full to see how much more he'll have to add in order to overpower the system.

'Could you not put in something that could fry the circuits of any air con system?' she suggests.

Tony makes a thoughtful noise. 'I've thought about it, but that would mean needing to make them bigger, and they're already at the edge of being hard to notice as it is. I could make a buddy bot to go with it that has that ability I suppose.' After a pause he reaches for the other box. 'Want to try the stun grenades?'

'As long as you promise we're not going to get stunned,' she laughs.

'I said I was sorry!' He takes her offered glove and sets about changing the grenades loaded into it and makes a couple of changes to the targeting system. 'So what has you coming for my charming company today?'

'Can't I just spend some time with a friend?' she counters, taking the glove back and fitting it as she watches him change over his glove.

'Yeah but if you wanted to do that we'd be down in my workshop with mugs of coffee,' he points out, standing up and raising an eyebrow. 'You only _ask_ to test out tech when there's something bothering you.'

'You've been listening to me too well,' she grumbles, turning to look out over the training room and letting one of the grenades go, deciding to spend some time moving it around and looking at the changes Tony has made to her glove rather than setting it off straight away.

'Come on, Nat, we've done this enough times you know you can tell me what it is.'

She doesn't react outwardly, not even a sigh. Which she knows is going to worry Tony even more, she's normally a lot less guarded around him when they do this. The thing is she thinks Tony is the only one who is going to be able to help her with this particular problem, but she's not entirely sure she's ready to face it.

_ Then why did you ask him to test tech?_ she scolds herself.

'It's Bruce,' she admits quietly, after the quiet stretches out for a while, the only sounds the faint ones of the grenade moving around. 'You might want to make these things a bit quieter.'

'I'll look into it, I hadn't done much testing in a quiet place so I wasn't sure how much the noise would be noticeable.'

'AC/DC too loud?' she smirks. 'Obviously you didn't have Peter in the room when you were testing them.'

'Why would that make a difference? He loves AC/DC!'

'You turn the volume down when he's in the workshop because the loud music hurts his ears,' she points out. 'And I'm not even sure he knows what band it is you're listening to, he just likes it because it reminds him of working in the workshop with you.'

'Don't know what you're talking about,' Tony waves her off. 'So what's got you wound up over Bruce?'

She doesn't respond for a few moments. 'He wants to try us again.'

Tony's watching her carefully, she can see him out of the corner of her eye, but she doesn't turn to look at him. 'And what did you tell him?'

'I said I'd give it a chance.'

'I'm sensing a but coming.'

'He left, Tony, without a backwards glance.'

'You still want to give it a go.'

'How do I know he won't leave again like last time?'

'You mean apart from the fact I'm not intending on creating any more murderous robots?' At her glare he puts his hands up in surrender. 'Alright, sorry, inappropriate. Honestly Nat I don't know why you're asking _me_ for relationship advice of all people. Wouldn't Clint be a better person to speak to? Hell I'll give you Pepper's number if you want, she's awesome at relationship advice.'

'You know Bruce better than anyone else, Tony.'

Tony sighs and looks away. 'Yeah I do, but even I wasn't expecting him to go off the map like he did.'

'It hurt you just as much,' it wasn't a question, she'd guessed the scientist's disappearance had hurt the inventor just as much as it had hurt her. Tony Stark didn't let many people in and Bruce was one of the few people he'd let get really close.

'I can't tell you what to do, Nat, you need to make that decision for yourself. You need to decide if it's worth risking your heart over again. Do I think he's going to disappear again? I have no idea. I'd like to think not, but we don't know what's coming in the future and what might set him off again; he left to keep everyone safe from himself, we know that even if we don't agree with it. I wish I could tell you he's never going to think about upping and leaving us ever again, but I can't so I won't-'

'How did you manage to trust Steve enough to risk it after he left before?' she cuts across his rambling.

Tony's mouth works opening and closing like a fish out of water for a couple of seconds, and if she wasn't trying to hold back tears she'd find it funny. 'I don't know,' he finally admits. 'I don't think I do fully, I'm still waiting for the thing I'm going to do that's going to send him packing again. I just hope that he won't.'

'Tony-'

'Does what you feel for Bruce feel like you can work for it with only the hope that he won't leave again?' he cuts across her, dark eyes challenging her.

Natasha pauses and thinks, letting his unspoken challenge force her to confront her feelings fully. Eventually she swallows past the lump in her throat and nods. 'I think so.'

'Then go for it,' he tells her, 'and know we'll all be here for you should it all head south. Both of you.'

Blinking back tears she throws her arms around him and pulls him close. 'Thank you.'

'Don't get all sentimental on me now, Agent Romanoff. We still need to test out my stun grenades.'

She laughs and pulls back, setting off the grenade she'd sent wandering whilst they spoke. There's a loud bang, and bright blue powder fills her vision. Coughing and spluttering to clear the air around her, finally the powder settles and she catches sight of Tony.

'Umm… oops?' he grins sheepishly. 'I may have put too much in them.'

She bursts out laughing. The entire room, and both of them, are covered in bright blue powder.

'Well at least we don't need to go to medical,' he shrugs, causing her to double over with laughter. He joins in and the two end up falling to the floor in a laughing heap.

'What the hell?' they look up to see Sam standing in the doorway with a shocked look on his face. 'What have you two been doing?'

'Testing tech,' Natasha grins, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

'Cap!' Sam leans out the door and shouts down the corridor. 'Your boyfriend's finally lost it and he's taken Nat with him on the crazy train!'

* * *

_A/N: Hi everyone! Hope you all enjoy these last two updates, only two more chapters left to post until the end of this story. The Christmas story should be up some time today as well so do keep an eye out for that. Thank you so much to everyone who has left reviews and who is continuing to read this series. Please do let me know what you think of these two chapters!_

_Love always,_

_L x_


	9. Vision

**Vision**

Vision doesn't often find reason to enter the training room unless it's to help Wanda experiment with some new variation of control of her powers. The main issue is, other than Wanda, there isn't really anyone that he can safely train with that will test his own abilities. He supposes, if Thor had remained on Earth then he would have trained more with the Asgardian, but as it is he tends to stay away from the room and only takes part in larger group training sessions.

Which, although they can be fun, are not as enjoyable as some of the stories he hears from the rest of the team. So he has yet to fully appreciate the apparent wonders the training room can possess.

There is now, however, a reason for him to rethink this prior assessment. With Loki now recovered enough to not injure himself should he attempt to do any form of exercise, he has sought out Vision for some assistance.

'I'm still unsure as to why you think I am the best candidate,' he responds to the trickster's query.

'Because you are less likely to have any lasting injuries from the abilities I wish to experiment with,' the man sighs. 'I…I am not comfortable with these abilities and the form I shall have to take to use them as it is. I hate to admit it, but I do not particularly want to injure anyone here should something go wrong.'

'I am still ensure why you think _I _am the best candidate.'

'Your ability to phase means that you can avoid harm from the attacks. None of the others have the same ability.'

'Wanda would also be able to avoid harm from the attacks with her powers.'

'I can't be certain that the magic from my Asgardian form would not negate any of her abilities and would rather not take the risk. Encasing someone in a block of ice is not going to go down well with anyone here and is going to do nothing to encourage them to trust me, no matter how accidental it might have been.'

'Very well I shall help however I can,' Vision responds. 'I must also admit to some curiosity as to these new found abilities of yours.'

'They aren't exactly _new_,' Loki grumbles, 'it's just I've never been able to take the form before without the aid of an artefact before and never had the inclination to do so.'

'Why the change of mind?'

Loki is quiet as they continue their journey to the training room, and Vision remembers Wanda's lessons about not pushing people to answer questions if it seems they are reluctant to answer and does not add any more. 'Are you confident with assuming your other form?' Vision asks.

The trickster shakes his head. 'No, that is going to be the first challenge.'

'Is there anything that you think may be able to help?'

Loki gives a mirthless laugh. 'The Casket of Ancient Winters was destroyed with Asgard, so unfortunately no.' He sighs. 'Having spent some time in my Jotun form, however, it is now easier for me to see where my Asgardian visage ends and my Jotun one begins so I am hoping it will be easier for me to change between them.'

'Might I ask why you find it so abhorrent to take on your birth form?' Vision asks.

'Would you want to look like the monster you were scared with stories of as a child?'

'I'm afraid I have no experience to correspond with this concept. However, no I would not want to be something that I had always thought of as being evil.' Vision thinks he's probably said the wrong thing again when the dark haired man only nods with an odd expression on his face and turns away to concentrate on changing his shape. He's still not comfortable with what he deems emotional conversations as he still finds it difficult to understand how to navigate the intricacies and pitfalls. And there are so many pitfalls.

'I believe,' Loki draws him out of his thoughts, 'that I may have succeeded.'

'It appears you have,' Vision responds, eyeing the god's dark blue skin tone and gleaming red eyes. 'Are you prepared to experiment with your powers?'

'As ready as I will ever be,' comes the reply.

'How much are you aware of what you should be able to do?'

'Not as much as I should be,' he admits, 'all I know is that Jotuns can create weapons of ice as an extension of their limbs, and I have seen them able to create ice in their immediate area.'

'Should we perhaps start with the limb extensions?' Vision suggests. 'It may be easier to then progress onto creating ice from then on.'

'A sound suggestion. Let us hope it is as easy as it sounds.'

* * *

It turns out it is not as easy as it sounds. In fact Loki had had several tantrums as he failed many times to create an ice extension that could withstand any amount of force. The only positive had been that, during the many tantrums, he had created blocks of ice in his anger, which they had then been able to build on until he had more control.

By the time FRIDAY informed them that dinner would be ready soon as they should finish and start to get ready Loki is able to keep a solid weapon on one arm that can withstand almost as much force as Vision is able to summon, and can summon weaker weapons with his other one with good enough frequency to be able to use it in a fight.

'Thank you for your help today, Vision,' Loki says, returning to his Asgardian form, 'I do appreciate it.'

'You are most welcome,' he responds, altering his appearance to be more human at the same time the god changes his. 'Though I want to ask again: what made you decide to embrace your heritage now rather than when you first discovered it?'

Loki pauses as they head towards the door. 'In truth? I'm not sure I can say what the deciding factor was. Thor's full acceptance of my Jotun form was one, and the Spiderling's reaction another. I suppose I realised it was time to stop ignoring what I was and to attempt to embrace it if I ever wanted to be truly comfortable in my own skin.'

Vision nods. 'I still do not fully comprehend emotions, though I believe I am getting much better. However, I can safely say that it takes a lot of courage to make the decision you have, and I think you should be proud.'

Loki laughs sharply. 'It's not often I have heard that in recent years, I thank you for your words.'

Vision pauses, realising he has to weigh his next words very carefully. 'You may find yourself hearing it more if you decide to stay here a little longer. I have found, although they tend to hide it behind jokes, this team cares deeply about each other, and if they accept you then you will be able to experience that as well.'

Loki pauses and sighs. 'I thought I had that comradery before with the Warriors Three, Sif and my brother. I was mistaken then and I do not wish to make the same mistake again.'

'I was not suggesting you, as they like to say, jump in with both feet first,' Vision reassures him, 'I was simply suggesting that you consider it.'

'Considering what you have done for me today, I shall do as you ask,' Loki half-smiles at him. 'I cannot promise that I shall change my ways overnight, Vision, I have become very accustomed over the past years of relying solely on myself and leaving anything behind that I begin to form attachments to. It never ends well if I do.'

'Is that because you never let it end any other way?' Vision suggests. When Loki doesn't respond he doesn't press for an answer. 'I admit to enjoying our time today, Loki, I would be happy to do this again. It is a long time since I have been able to put my full abilities into play and I should like to do so again.'

'I should like to repeat this too,' Loki smiles.


	10. Peter

**Peter**

There isn't much about the facility that Peter doesn't love. But, next to spending to time in the lab with Tony, the training room is his favourite place to go. It's getting all the fun of having the Spider-Man powers, without having to remember the responsibility.

He's been down here with quite a few members of the team: Natasha has been his main teacher; he and Tony have come down a couple of times to test out his suit upgrades; Bucky and Steve have both taught him ways to use his strength; even Sam's brought him down for the occasional session.

His all time favourite training session though, was when Steve decided he needed to work on using his spidey senses.

'You want me to do what?' he blinks at Steve, trying to work out how long he'll be spending in the medical wing after this.

'I got to admit, Cap,' Sam pipes up, 'this is sounding crazy. And I'm used to hearing the stuff that comes out of Tony's mouth now.'

'Hey!' the inventor frowns from where he's standing at the side of the training room. 'I'm not crazy. I'm eccentric! And a genius.'

'And a pain in the ass,' Rhodes pipes up.

'You say you haven't really thought much about how your extra sense works, Peter,' Steve ignores the others and starts to explain, 'so we need to start looking into it. If something happens and you can't trust your other senses then this might be the only thing you can rely on.'

'Yeah but you want me to put on a blindfold while the whole team attacks me?'

'Not everyone at once,' Steve reassures him with a smile. 'We'll all take it in turns, that way you can see if there's any difference in the sense you get from different people and different forms of attacks.'

'Bucky's going to get me back for webbing him to the floor at my birthday party.'

'Now what makes you think that kid?' the previously mentioned man grins.

'He'll have to catch you first,' Steve winks at him, 'I think you're underestimating your spider-sense.'

'I thought it was his Peter-tingle,' Bucky sniggers, making Peter groan. Why Aunt May had to say that where he could hear he still hasn't worked out. Nor has he fully forgiven her yet.

'They are not called Peter-tingles,' he huffs, 'that just sounds stupid.'

'No worse than anything Tony comes up with,' Rhodes adds.

'Excuse me?'

'Tony you called ground breaking technology BARF.'

'Can we focus please?' Steve frowns at the rest of the team. 'Come on Pete, put your mask on and Tony'll get Karen to block out your sight.'

'But why can't I use the suit's interface? That's what I'd do if I got caught someone pitch black. And I can see in near-perfect darkness anyway.'

'Because you can't always rely on the suit,' it's Tony that answers, voice a little subdued. 'What if the enemies you're facing manage to take out the suit's functions? Or you get caught without it?'

Peter sighs and nods. 'Alright. But if I get any broken bones you can explain them to May,' he points a finger at Steve and then checks his shooters before putting the mask on. The eyes go black and he can't see anything. For a moment he has to fight down panic, until he hears Steve giving instructions to the rest of the team to take a seat at the side.

'You'll be fine, Pete,' Natasha says from wherever she's ended up. 'Remember your training and trust your instincts.'

_Right,_ he takes a deep breath, _trust the spidey-senses. Trust the sixth sense that no one can explain. Easy._

'You ready Pete? I'll be coming for you first,' Steve says.

He takes a few steps back, blinking his eyes against the material of his mask and trying not to focus on the fact he can't see. His hip catches one of the benches and he stumbles to the side. 'I'm not sure about this,' he says as he catches his balance.

'You're focussing on what you've lost,' Bucky's voice comes to him and he moves his head to where he thinks the man is waiting. 'Focus on what you still have.'

'Right,' he takes another deep breath and tries to do as the man suggests. 'Alright let's give it a go.'

He knows the punch is coming, and he staggers backwards, feeling the air stir as Steve's fist moves past his face, missing him by inches. 'Good,' the captain's voice is happy, 'try to keep steady on your feet, don't move so much.'

_Easy for you to say_, he grumbles to himself. The next punch grazes his shoulder, but he misses most of it; it's the next one that sends him sprawling backwards. 'Dammit,' he curses, trying to get to his feet.

'Calm down, Spider,' Natasha says. 'Most of the time you're not looking when you dodge hits in training anyway, you're focussing too much on not being able to see.'

'Try closing your eyes,' Bucky suggests. 'If you aren't already.'

There's a solid hand on his shoulder and Peter's desperately trying to blink back frustrated tears behind his mask, glad for the material so no one can see them. 'You alright, kid?' Steve asks quietly.

Peter huffs in annoyance at himself, then takes a steadying breath and nods. 'Yeah, just give me a second.' Once he's calmed himself down he does as Bucky suggested and closes his eyes, taking a few deep breaths. _Come on, if Matt can fight when he's permanently blind and doesn't have a sixth sense you can learn to do it too. What is it he said he does?_ He muses as he continues to take some deep breaths. _He said he listens, and he can feel the heat from bodies; maybe if I focus on what I can hear and let my spidey-sense do the rest I'll be a little better._

'Alright, let's try again,' he says, feeling Steve squeeze his shoulder in reassurance before releasing it.

'You sure?'

'Positive, Cap,' he feels his body slip into the stance Natasha taught him. 'Give me your best shot.'

'Alright. Heads up, Queens,' Steve chuckles. The punch he aims, however, goes for his stomach. Peter steps to his right, feeling the soldier lose his balance momentarily before righting himself.

'Not bad for an old man,' Peter quips, hearing a laugh from Tony.

'Don't get cocky, kid,' Steve retorts, aiming another punch his way.

It's amazing really. As soon as he stops focussing on his eyes being open and not being able to see everything becomes so much clearer. He can hear the air leaving Steve's nose as he punches out, he can feel it's coming for his right shoulder and he glides out of the way, half pirouetting on one foot to face where the soldier ends his attack. His hands come up into a defensive stance, ready to try and attack back on his next dodge.

The closest he can come to describing it is like a bat's sonar reading you see on films and TV; it's not quite a clear as that, but it's the best comparison he can come up with. He wonders if this is how Matt fights and makes a note to ask the vigilante when he next runs into him. Or just to text him later.

It's a kick this time, meant to knock him off balance. Instead he jumps up, using Steve as a springboard to flip over the top of him, landing and spinning a kick into the small of his back.

'Yes! Go Pete!' Wanda cheers from behind him.

'Now you're getting it, Spider-Man,' Steve's a little out of breath but Peter can tell he's coming in for another attack. They continue to dance around each other, Peter doesn't attack as regularly as Steve, waiting until the man is close enough for him to guarantee landing a hit before he retaliates, not wanting to waste energy.

That's when his senses set off a new tone, and he dodges a blow from behind him. 'Who's fighting you now, Peter?' Steve asks, his voice further as he continues to dodge attacks from his new sparring partner.

_How the hell am I supposed to know who it is?_ _It's not like they're talking to me._ This presents another problem. _How can I know how much strength I can use in an attack? I don't want to hurt anyone._

'I don't know,' he grunts between dodging two attacks. _Until I know who it is I can't attack them. I know it's not Bucky because there's no sound of the metal arm moving, and it's not Tony because I can't hear the arc reactor, and it's not Rhodes because I can't hear his braces. Wanda doesn't fight like this so it's not her._

'Focus,' Steve says, 'tell me when you have a name.'

_Don't overthink it. Feel it._ His spidey-sense rings out with a name.

'It's Sam,' he says, ducking down and swinging his legs out to down his opponent.

'Well done, kid,' comes Sam's breathless response from the floor.

He's about to offer to help when his senses go off again and he's ducking another punch, this one goes sailing over his head. 'Bucky! No fair! And you were using your metal arm!'

'I knew you'd dodge,' comes the reply and Peter's pretty sure he hears a shrug as well. Or that could be him priming for another punch.

'I'm so going to enjoy putting you on your ass again,' he grunts as he dodges a flurry of attacks from the ex-assassin.

'Big talk and not enough action, kid,' Bucky taunts him. 'Let's see you make good on your promise.'

The problem is that Bucky is much fiercer and quicker with his attacks than Sam, who doesn't have the speed to match, and Steve, who was landing punches in a steady rhythm; it's taking everything in him to keep up with the dodges, and Bucky's moving around so much he can't pin when would be a good time to try and take his legs out from under him. Plus his counter attacks are barely landing and now he's getting frustrated.

'Stop acting on instinct and _think_,' Natasha calls out to him. 'Come on, Pete, you're smarter than that.'

'Easy for you to say,' he mutters, ducking to avoid a punch to his face. _Besides my smarts are all for school and science, it's not like I'm a strategist like Steve. Unless I've seen it in a movie._ If only he had one of those ropes nearby that the protagonist cuts and goes flying upwards on out of the way of the antagonist.

The force of his own stupidity hits him so hard that he misses a kick to his stomach that sends him stumbling backwards with a grunt.

'Buck! You don't need to give him internal bleeding,' Steve scolds his friend.

'He's fine,' he can hear Bucky's metal arm waving around.

'I'm an idiot,' he grunts to himself. As Bucky heads towards him he raises his hand, praying that this is going to work, and lets a web fly, pulling himself up and out of reach of the dark-haired soldier.

'Hey!' he hears Bucky stumble in surprise, obviously being part way through an attack when he disappeared. Hoping his senses aren't lying to him he lets go and falls squarely onto the man's shoulders, sending them both falling to the floor and webs the man's arm down.

At least he thinks he does.

'That's more like it,' Tony laughs.

He's about to respond when he feels a warning from in front of him and dodges to the side, lashing out with a leg that passes straight through his new opponent.

'What the hell?' he's so shocked he can't dodge the force that sends him sliding backwards across the floor. Something was different about this tone, and he _knows_ that his opponent was where he'd lashed out with his leg so how had his attack passed straight through them? There's another warning and he jumps up, finding a grip on the wall as the smell of burning reaches him.

'Vision?' he asks, suddenly realising his senses were not going to be as much help in this fight.

'Correct, Peter. I believe it was my phasing that confused you before.'

'Yeah, right, that makes sense,' he jumps to an opposite wall, still unsure how his senses are enabling him to do this. 'Umm…that wasn't a blast from the stone right?'

'It was, but it was not enough to hurt you,' the humanoid reassures him.

'Err… yeah right. Can I just say you're really screwing with my spidey-sense and this is so not fair.' He barely misses the punch that Vision throws at him, and he hears it crack the wall where his head had been. 'Dude, not so hard! I want a face left at the end of this.'

'I thought this was supposed to emulate a real fight as much as possible?'

'That doesn't mean you can cave my face in!' he protests, shooting out a web and trying to swing to the other side of the room. He screws the timing and goes sprawling across the floor and crashing into some of the equipment. 'Ow…'

'You alright, Pete?' Tony calls, voice worried.

His head is ringing from his crash, but there's another warning and he's not entirely sure where he's moving to except that he's moving out of the way of the attack, and feels the air above his leg stirred as Vision's attack misses him by millimetres.

'Yeah, yeah, fine,' he pants as he manages to find his feet and tries to put some distance between him and his opponent. His brain is spinning and he can't place things like he had been. Where was Vision? Where were the rest of the team? He can't place things like he had and he moves his head around trying to catch on to _anything_ he can use.

A whisper of material against something solid. Reacting on pure instinct, Peter sends a web towards whatever the solid thing is and pulls. Vision lets out a sound of surprise and Peter's only just able to dodge out of the way as the humanoid crashes into the place he was just standing.

'Good move,' Steve congratulates him, but Peter can barely respond, trying to catch his breath and gain back control of his senses. Everything is still fuzzy.

That's probably why he misses the foot in the small of his back that sends him sprawling to the ground. Reacting on instinct yet again he springs from his hands and flips over into a crouch, waiting for his opponent to make their next move.

It doesn't take them long. There's something about the pattern of the attacks that's familiar. Steadying. And Peter feels himself calming down and getting into a pattern of defence and counter attack and, slowly, his senses return.

'Natasha,' he grins. The pattern is so familiar because it's their warm up.

'You back in the room now, Baby Spider?' He replies by crouching down and trying to take her legs out from under her. She dodges and laughs. 'I'll take that as a yes.'

He decides against using his webs this time. If he's going to beat Natasha he wants to do it on as equal a footing as possible.

They trade blows for a couple of minutes until he finds his opening. There's silence for a couple of moments after he manages to pin her to the floor.

'Did…did he just use Natasha's signature take down _against_ her?' Bucky breaks the silence first.

'That's the first time you got that right,' she says as he releases her and takes off his mask. She's smiling. 'I told you that you were overthinking it.'

'Can we stop now? My head hurts.'

'But I didn't get a turn!' Tony pouts.

'Neither did I,' Wanda copies him.

'I want to still be _alive_ at the end of the day,' Peter protests, which generates a round of laughter from the team. 'What did I do to Vision by the way?'

'You surprised me,' the humanoid responds, 'your web caught one of the weights and pulled it into my back before I realised what was happening and was able to phase to avoid it.'

'Lucky for me or I'd have had a weight in my face,' he mutters.

'How's your head feeling?' Steve asks, coming up and checking him over.

'Sore. Like I'm getting a sensory-overload headache. I got them loads when I first got my powers, but I've managed the sensory input since so that doesn't happen anymore.'

'Hmm,' Steve continues to check him for injuries. 'How's your stomach?'

'Stomach and back ache like mad,' he responds, he notices Bucky looks a little sheepish. 'But they'll be fine in a couple of hours.'

'Right, rest up for the rest of the day. Captain's orders.'

Peter does his best mock salute, causing everyone to laugh. 'How did I do, Cap?'

'Better than expected, Spider-Man,' Steve smiles at him as they all file out of the training room. 'Just like always.'

Peter can't help the rush of the pride at those words, as Vision takes Steve's place at his side and draws him into a conversation about how his senses were working and how fighting him had changed the signals he was receiving.

* * *

_A/N: Hi everyone! I am so sorry this is so much later than I intended, I'm afraid life has just been crazy this past week. Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews and for continuing to read my ramblings; I'm sorry I've fallen behind with the responses but I promise they will all be responded to by the end of the week._

_Please do let me know what you thought of these two last chapters, and Deadpool is returning for a 'Deadpool Adds' next chapter with an announcement - help me!_

_All my love always,_

_L x_


	11. Deadpool Adds (Again)

**Deadpool Adds (Again)**

Yo peeps! You're friendly neighbourhood Deadpool here just, yet again, doing a job for the author because that's just the lovely kind of merc that I am.

So douchebag that writes this stuff is saying she wants to take a break from this series for a little bit and wants to do something different. I know right? Stopping me and my Baby Boy being together, it's fucking sacrilege! And I don't care if she says there'll be more it won't the same and- HEY! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE-

Right sorry everyone. Wade is taking a break because he obviously can't be trusted to deliver a message.

So basically I'm taking a **brief** break from this series to try out some of the other things that are bouncing round my head and clamouring for attention. For one thing I feel like my writing in this series is beginning to get a little stale, and I don't want quantity to override quality because that isn't fair to you as my wonderful readers, and I think doing a few things outside of the series will help with that. For another I've kind of got to replan a chunk of where this series is going following some requests and comments from you wonderful readers, and I don't want to go ahead and do it without working out what's happening first; again I don't want the quality to go down.

It's not a long break at all. Basically I'm thinking of doing one short multi-chapter story separate from this, or a couple of one shots, and then coming back and finishing the next instalment, so please don't panic about this not being finished. I really am enjoying this series and have so many ideas I'm looking forwards to seeing your reactions to there is no way I'm abandoning it.

What I did want to ask all of you is: what would you like me to do next instead? I'm going to put a list of the ideas below and you guys comment and let me know what you'd like to see. Or comment with any requests, I'm always happy to try doing requests for side projects.

So without further delay (and before Wade decides to come back from his sulking) here's the list of options:

\- An End Game AU that starts from when Tony returns to Earth with Nebula. Stony (obviously) and only a couple of chapters

\- Another Stony (are we surprised) but with a side helping of Nat/Bucky. This one is an Alpha/Beta/Omega AU and would probably be the start of another, shorter series set in a medieval fantasy world

\- IronStrange one shot post End Game. Strange is drinking himself into a stupor and Wong wants to know what's going on, so Strange tells him there were _two_ options for them to win, but it all depended on what choice Tony made when he returned to Earth. One in which he died, and one in which he lived. Angst warning!

\- A series of alternate fairytales starring all our favourite Avengers. This would be a big mix of pairings and would basically be different takes on fairytales. Beauty and the Beast Spideypool anyone? Or WinterIron Sleeping Beauty?

\- Stony AU set between Civil War and Infinity War where Steve realises Tony is in an abusive relationship and comes back to try and help him.

\- Still undecided pairings A/B/O AU set in more of a turn of the 20th century era, featuring Tony on the run with baby Peter from an abusive relationship and joins a circus, which he and Clint end up having to escape from and run into some of our favourite characters in a small town. Tossing up between Stony, WinterIron, Bucky/Nat and Clintasha as the main pairings, possibly even Stuckony. (Yo, author lady. You know you want to do WinterIron, don't lie.) Yeah Deadpool's right, it's so going to be WinterIron and Clintasha.

\- WinterIron AU set end of the 19th century where the team are actually monster hunters. May end up being a series if the ideas hit me

\- Civil War AU where Natasha is the one who finds Peter and has been training him in secret

They will all be done at some point, I'm just interested in what you guys would like to see first. Again do let me know if there are any requests!

Love always,

L x

YOU MEAN THERE'S MORE OF ME AND PETEY-PIE?

Yes Wade…now please use your inside voice…


End file.
